Flood Damaged Trails Suck Budget Dry

Landslides caused by abnormal winter rainfall are combining with the budget impasse in Washington D.C. to inflict a double-whammy on trail users in the national forests.

“I don’t even have enough money to supervise the volunteer crew that have been coming here for years,” said Pat Hart, trails manager for the Bonners Ferry Ranger District.

Charlie Miller, Panhandle National Forest recreation manager in Coeur d’Alene, said the trail operations and maintenance budget for North Idaho was $659,525 in 1993, $601,547 in 1994 and $493,830 in 1995. This year, officials estimate the budget at $436,000.

“But we don’t know for sure,” he said. “Until Congress acts, we can only assume.”

Budgets for trail construction and reconstruction will be about half of last year’s $455,000. But virtually all of it will go to clearing up flood damage, Miller said.

Forest officials have estimated $64,000 in flood damage to easily accessible campgrounds such as Kit Price on the Coeur d’Alene River, Beauty Bay and Shadowy St. Joe.

“A lot of campgrounds and trails are at higher elevations, still inaccessible because of snow,” Miller said. “We don’t know what needs to be done.”

Miller said he doesn’t expect this year’s budget to have enough money to repair all the damage caused by this winter’s high winds, floods and landslides.

“Throughout the forest, it’s remarkable what’s not going to happen this year,” Hart said.

The veteran trails manager took an extended leave of absence this winter in order to have enough money in her budget to hire a skeleton trail crew this summer.

“We have people with a good heart who want to help, but in some cases we won’t be able to use them,” she said.

The Priest Lake District is no better off. “My trail maintenance budget looks like it’s down about 75 percent from last year, and last year wasn’t one of the better years,” said Roger Bineau, district trails manager.

Last week, however, Bineau had arranged for a work crew from the Geiger Corrections Center to spend time at Priest Lake clearing the Peewee and Steep Creek trails and make improvements to the Chipmunk Rapids ski trail. The crew also will work at the Newport and Fernan districts this summer.

“Then I’m down to a two-person trail crew, and I may not be able to keep them for a full season,” Bineau said.

The best backpackers and horsemen can hope for is a wet summer, so idled fire crews can be put to work clearing trails.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo